From the Harris campaign:
Zanesville, Ohio (Mar. 20, 2006) – Republican Congressional candidate James Brodbelt Harris, CFA, has spent several weeks of his primary campaign meeting thousands of Republicans in the 18th District, passing out flyers person to person and in front of post offices and libraries, and introducing himself to Republican activists at the many county Lincoln Day dinners in the large rural district. Recently, he participated in and spoke at the Ohio Young Republican Convention. Though it is hard work to take on the Goliath-sized incumbent’s campaign, the Harris campaign advances forward, taking directly to the people of the district his message of economic growth:
“We need more Central Ohio economic growth, not continued rust belt stagnation. We need restrained spending and less pork and continued tax cuts and more money in the bank accounts of families and businesses. We need more American free trade exchanging the profits of our respective labors, not a creeping xenophobia or fearful protectionism that weighs us all down. In sum, we need to slim down our obese government and speed up our economic growth.”
Harris, 36, would apparently be the sole CFA Charterholder and financial analyst in Congress if elected in November. Harris says, “Congress needs a good financial analyst to get a handle on its runaway spending. In some ways, the House of Representatives is like a great old fixer-upper with a leaky roof and broken pipes, and maybe I’m the right fix-it man who can get the leaks under control. I suggest that Congress has too little financial experience except with spending our tax dollars.” Harris also participates in his family’s farming business. According to the Library of Congress and its Congressional Research Service in its 2006 report, "Membership of the 109th Congress: A Profile", Congress is comprised of members with an average age of 55 serving almost 10 years, most of whom have a background in law followed by public service and politics and then by business. Some of the occupations in the report include the following:
12 medical doctors (including 1 psychiatrist), 2 physicists, 2 chemists, 1 geologist, 1 microbiologist, 3 dentists, 3 nurses, 2 veterinarians, 1 pharmacist, 1 florist, 2 vintners,
275 (236 in the House and 39 in the Senate) former state legislators, 109 congressional staffers, 2 FBI agents, 1 CIA agent, 1 CIA attaché, 1 paper mill worker,
1 motivational speaker, 6 ministers, 1 astronaut, 1 professional magician,
6 accountants, 2 auctioneers, 2 bank tellers, 1 toll booth collector, 1 river boat captain,
1 major league baseball player, 1 major league football player,
1 cement plant worker, 1 meat cutter, 1 race track blacksmith, and 1 “jackeroo”.
I just think we could do with a few less "professional" politicians but your mileage may vary...
